Whatever the reason, we want our NBA champions to have what we call a “killer instinct.” Michael Jordan epitomized that. Kobe Bryant followed suit. Kawhi Leonard may have gotten a little there.
In what other world could you enjoy this? Jordan, who has called his teammates “fat,” “stupid,” “losers,” and “trash,” and even punched them, declared, “I'm going to make fun of you until you're on the same level as me.” , Is there anything else to be praised for? myself. “Chicago Bulls fans booed the six-time champion architect in front of his widow, but for little reason, it was Jordan's portrayal.
Bryant's legacy is even more complicated. We know little about the real Leonard because his public image reflects a basketball-playing robot. Is this really something we should be defending in the name of killer instinct?
Now, let me introduce you to Jayson Tatum, who is more of an emo superstar. And he gets killed for it. In sports, vulnerability is considered a weakness unless it is, but the Boston Celtics forward falls somewhere in between.
In Game 4 of the second series against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday night, he added 33 points, 11 rebounds and five assists in a 109-102 victory. The win improved the Celtics to 3-1 in the series, 7-2 in the playoffs, and an NBA-best +92 win differential in the postseason.
Imagine being so good at something that unless you're the absolute best at it, you're considered a failure. This is where Tatum's career is now, and where he started when he opened up to us after the blowout loss to the Cavaliers in Game 2 of this series.
“There wasn't a single person who lost there or got discouraged. You never want to lose, especially in the playoffs. There's a lot to learn from that, and you understand that, right? I don't think so,” Tatum said. Even if we lose, we're supposed to win every game by 25 points, but that's not always the case. We're playing a good team.The rest of the series is going to be fun, especially since it's the playoffs. [Game 3]. We have bounced back many times. We lost 16 games this year? So I'd like to think that when we lost a few times, we handled it pretty well. ”
What did Tatum do wrong? His Celtics responded, winning Games 3 and 4 on the road and going 4-0 in the playoffs. and people do Every time Boston loses, they act like the sky is falling. Such was the case in the 2022 NBA Finals, where the veteran Golden State Warriors made the Celtics look like they were being led by a 24-year-old (because they were). Such was the case in last season's Eastern Conference Finals, when the Miami Heat were outstanding in an upset victory. (It's funny how you forget that Tatum sat out Game 7 with a sprained ankle.) That was the case after Game 2 of each of Boston's two playoff series.
The Celtics, led by Tatum, are great, so I expect them to win. that's it. they are not invincible. They're amazing. But we can't accept it. Just being amazing is not enough. You can't be the best player or be on the best team that can win every season. you have to be the best. We have to win.
However, we are putting them in a no-win situation. Win, and should have. Lose, I told you so. He totaled 66 points, 24 rebounds and 11 assists in two dominant all-around efforts to give the Cavs their second rebound road win in three days. That's the Tatum we should always see.
I think that's what Tatum meant the other day when he gave us a rare chance to see how he thinks.
“This is the kind of story you see on TV a lot, the idea that we have a super team,” Tatum said. We didn't have a coach of the year. There was no MVP. There were only two All-Stars. I mean, they say we're a super team, but we didn't get paid as much as we did. But we know we have a good team. we are not perfect. We often play the right way and we know we have to be better. ”
Isn't that a healthy way of thinking? At least he's grounded in reality.
What's the reason Joe Mazzula finished fourth in the Coach of the Year award other than everyone believed Boston would win 64 games? should Do you want to go around the field? The Celtics had the same number of All-Stars as the Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers, Milwaukee Bucks, and Phoenix Suns, all of whom they lost to in the first round. Boston is a great team, but it's much more than that. When you're great, you better win, otherwise you're a loser. This is how it works.
What were people saying about Derrick White when he first came to Boston? What did they think about trading Kristaps Porzisis for Marcus Smart? Why didn't they think Jaylen Brown deserved a max contract? Who would be willing to pay what the Celtics did for 33-year-old Jrue Holiday? When was the last time someone thought Al Horford was elite? Forgive Tatum for thinking he's terrible if he does it and damned if he doesn't.
After all, Tatum doesn't get any recognition for the sacrifices he makes in front of his talented teammates. Doing too much, losing, being criticized. He plays in the team, wins a lot of games and gets criticized. Rinse and repeat.
Tatum ranks 6th in MVP voting and we believe he belongs there in any discussion of the best players in the NBA. But we will hold him to the standards we have set as the best players in the game. Because we've seen him get there. He dropped 50 points in a playoff win over Kevin Durant's Brooklyn Nets in 2021. In 2022, he scored 46 points in a must-win Game 6 against Giannis Antetokounmpo's defending champion Milwaukee Bucks. He dropped another 50 points against reigning MVP Joel Embiid in last year's game. 7 vs. Philadelphia 76ers.
If he did that every night, he'd be the greatest of all time. But he isn't. He's one of the best players in the NBA, but he's not the absolute best player. Sometimes he loses. Sometimes he's not enough. In other words, he's human.
Isn't that what we should want from a superstar? What's fun about being immortal?
When the Dallas Mavericks won a championship in 2011, we thought that much higher because we had experienced what Dirk Nowitzki had by age 32: a decade's worth of 50-win seasons that fell short of his goal. evaluated. He wasn't considered the best player in the game, even when he won MVP, but he beat the Bryant-led Lakers, Durant-led Oklahoma City Thunder, and LeBron James-led Heat on his way to the ring, making it all the way to the playoffs. Accomplished one run.
Can we really be grateful when we don't know about these things until they actually happen? Not as much as Nowitzki.
This is Tatum's age 25 season, the same as LeBron's move from Cleveland to Miami. He is one win away from reaching his fifth Eastern Conference Finals. He has 59 wins in the playoffs, four times as many as Jordan won during the same period of his career. And in this world, nothing means anything without a ring.
The replacement player is Durant. We killed him joining the 73-win Golden State Warriors. Since he ran away from the Thunder, his two titles and back-to-back Finals MVPs aren't worth as much to us, and perhaps to him as a result. We don't want our superstars to run away from their hardships, but we continue to endure hardships for them as well.
Heck, we weren't going to give Stephen Curry the utmost respect until he won Finals MVP in his sixth Finals appearance (opposite Tatum). We always found some reason to disparage him until he could no longer be denied.
As for Anthony Edwards, he has already fallen prey to this problem. He is 22 years old and has been compared to Jordan. As the Minnesota Timberwolves took a 2-0 lead in the series against the defending champion Denver Nuggets, we wondered how high Nikola Jokic would climb in the temple after his team won the title. And I wrote a script about how far Nikola Jokic would fall. It will be completely reversed over the weekend.
There would be no joy in this game if athletes, like the rest of us, weighed their legacy at every stage of their careers. They can succumb to it, and when they do, we're going to be there to discipline them. Put pressure on them and blame them for not doing it. Until they do, and we try to share it too. I knew he could do it..
No, it wasn't. We've been discussing every step of LeBron's career for 20 years, blaming him every time he loses when he shouldn't and wins when he should. And that's LeBron James. Does anyone else have any hope of avoiding this pitfall? Players may be enjoying the ride, but we certainly aren't.
Even as we criticize Tatum's presentation, deep down we understand this. Keep it to yourself to create an exterior of killer instinct. Because if Tatum wins with the Celtics, we might have to look internally.
